Midland Main Railway Line

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance she has given to Network Rail on the priority to be given to track infrastructure improvements to facilitate faster train speeds on the Midland Main Line.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government specified and funded in last year's Rail White Paper the high level improvements in capacity, safety and reliability required by 2014. Network Rail responded with an industry strategic business plan (SBP) to deliver these, which includes an optional enhancement to deliver journey time
	enhancements through Midland Main Line line-speed improvements.
	The independent Office of Rail Regulation is currently reviewing Network Rail's revised SBP, published on 4 April, ahead of the publication of its draft conclusions in June 2008.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Lembit �pik: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will put in place a procedure by which hon. and right hon. Members would be able to find out the names and addresses of service personnel from their constituencies who have been injured in Iraq or Afghanistan since January 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Derek Twigg: The paramount aim of MOD policy is the welfare of wounded personnel and their family.
	Service personnel and their families may of course contact their MP on any matter and at any time, and the MOD accordingly takes the view that the initiative over contact with the MP should remain with the wounded individual and their family.

Nuclear Disarmament

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what  (a) financial and  (b) in kind contributions the Atomic Weapons Establishment has made to the (i) International Atomic Energy Agency and (ii) Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in the field of verification techniques in the last five years.

Bob Ainsworth: AWE is a member of the IAEA's Network of Analytical Laboratories that analyse environmental samples collected by the IAEA's Department of Safeguards. Over the past five years, analytical work to the value of 417,000 has been carried out at AWE. This work is performed under the UK Support Programme for IAEA safeguards, funded by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
	AWE has not provided any support to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
	Chemical Weapons.

Devolution

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Advocate General on devolution arrangements.

Des Browne: I meet regularly with the Advocate-General to discuss a broad range of issues.

Local Authority Business Growth Incentives Scheme

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to ring fence Local Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme funding to business development opportunities.

John Healey: None. Current Local Authority Business Growth Incentives scheme funding is not ring-fenced and the Government have said they are minded that a reformed scheme would remain unring-fenced.

Income Tax: Low Incomes

Mark Hunter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many households in  (a) the United Kingdom,  (b) England,  (c) Greater Manchester,  (d) Stockport borough and  (e) Cheadle constituency were paying only the 10 pence starting rate of income tax as at 1 April 2008.

Jane Kennedy: holding answer 23 April 2008
	Estimates for the number of individual taxpayers in the United Kingdom and England paying tax only at the starting rate of income tax for 2007-08 are provided in tables 2.1 and 2.2, which are available from HM Revenue and Customs website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/menu.htm
	Accurate information on the total number of taxpayers in Greater Manchester, the borough of Stockport, and the parliamentary constituency of Cheadle are shown in tables T3.13, T3.14 and T3.15 respectively, which can be found at the HM Revenue and Customs website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu.htm
	These estimates are based on the latest available Survey of Personal Incomes (2005-06).

Income Tax: Low Incomes

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of people in Pendle who paid income tax at the 10 pence rate on all their taxable income on the latest date for which figures are available.

Jane Kennedy: The estimated number of taxpayers in each Government office region paying tax only at the starting rate of income tax for 2007-08 is shown in Table 2.2 'Number of individual income taxpayers by country and region', which is available from HM Revenue and Customs website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_tax/menu.htm
	Accurate information on the number of taxpayers who pay income tax at the 10p starting rate for geographic areas below country and region are not available but information on the total number of taxpayers in the parliamentary constituency of Pendle is shown in Table T3.15, which can be found at the HM Revenue and Customs website:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu.htm
	These estimates are based on the latest available Survey of Personal Incomes (2005-06).

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to answer the letter to him dated 10 March 2008 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Mrs N Hussain.

Jane Kennedy: I have replied to the right hon. Member.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Greg Clark: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he will answer Question 196462, on household income tabled on 19th March.

Angela Eagle: The Department for Work and Pensions expect to be in a position to reply to the hon. Gentleman shortly.

Departmental Internet

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent on the most recent redesign and implementation of his departmental website.

Jim Murphy: The recent upgrade of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) corporate website is part of a wider project to deliver a new web platform and improved web presence for the FCO over five years.
	The work will provide a single technical platform for all the FCO websites (including the main FCO website, Arabic and Urdu versions of the FCO website, UKvisas website, the FCO Freedom of Information website, and 229 embassy, high commission and special mission sites in multiple languages) as well as new designs, content, functionality and a new hub and spoke model for delivering business support.
	The project will complete in September 2008, by which time all of the FCO Post websites will have joined the new platform and will operate under the central domain, fco.gov.uk.
	The initial cost of 9.7 million for the web platform was set out in the answer given by my hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Meg Munn, on 30 January 2008,  Official Report, column 398W. The project is on target to cost 19.2 million over five years. This includes running costs, for example hosting and support, and some staff salaries. The cost of the project to date is 9.2 million which includes the design and implementation of the FCO and UKvisas websites, and the design of the embassy and high commission websites. It also includes procurement costs, client side advice, setting up regional hubs to provide business support and training. Details of the project and costs were published in Whitehall and Westminster World on 4 April:
	http://www.civilservicenetwork.com/index.php?id=41no_cache=1tx_ttnews[tt_news]=34250tx_ttnews[backPid]=29.
	The web is vital for the delivery of the FCO's Departmental Strategic Objectives. More people, in the UK and overseas, have contact with the FCO through the web than through any other channel. The FCO is committed to using the web to deliver its policy goals, as well as key services such as travel advice and visa information.
	The project has followed the Office of Government Commerce Gateway Review process and is delivering on time and to budget.

Official Residences

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2008,  Official Report, columns 591-2W, on departmental official residences, what guidance he issues on the tax liability of  (a) Ministers of the Crown in any official ministerial residence and  (b) former Ministers of the Crown occupying official ministerial residences.

Meg Munn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr. Watson) gave to him on 13 March,  Official Report, columns 591-592W. Former Ministers continue to be responsible for tax liability associated with ancillary services in official residences, while they make arrangements to move to other accommodation.

Recycling

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to maximise the proportion of recovered materials that reach end reprocessors in a clean state.

Joan Ruddock: A number of factors determine the quality of recyclable materials, including market price, source, and methods of collection and separation. The Government provide support and advice on recycling to businesses and local authorities via the DEFRA0-funded waste and resources action programme (WRAP).

Alcoholic Drinks: Children

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children were  (a) cautioned,  (b) prosecuted and  (c) given a penalty notice for disorder for knowingly consuming alcohol on licensed premises in each of the last two years.

Vernon Coaker: The number of young persons under 18 who were issued with; a reprimand or final warning, penalty notice for disorder, or proceeded against at magistrates courts for the offence of knowingly consuming alcohol by an under 18 on relevant premises in England and Wales for the years 2005 to 2006 can be viewed in the attached tables 1 and 2.
	From June 2000, cautions for offenders under 18 years old were replaced by reprimands and final warnings.
	
		
			  N umber of young persons under 18 years issued with a reprimand or final warning, and proceeded against at magistrates' courts for a certain alcohol offence in England and Wales for the years 2005 - 06( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 
			   2005  2006 
			  Offence description  Proceeded against  Reprimanded/final warning( 3) 
			 Individual aged under 18 knowingly consumes alcohol.  2 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis.  (2) Data includes the following offence descriptions and corresponding statutes: Individual aged under 18 knowingly consumes alcohol. Licensing Act 2003 S.150 (1)  (3) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and final warnings. Reprimands and final warnings are included in the above data.  (4) The Licensing Act 2003 came into force on 24 November 2005.  (5) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, other agencies, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source:  Court proceedings data held by RDS - Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	
		
			  N umber of persons issued with a penalty notice for disorder for the offence of consumption of alcohol by under 18 on relevant premises in England and Wales for the years 2006 - 06( 1, 2, 3, 4,) 
			   Number 
			 2005 84 
			 2006 75 
			 (1) These data are on the principal offence basis.  (2) Data includes the following offence descriptions and corresponding statutes: Consumption of alcohol by a person under 18 on relevant premises. Licensing Act 2003 S.150(1)  (3) New legislative reference with effect from 24 November 2005.  (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts, other agencies, and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.  Source: Court proceedings data held by RDS - Office for Criminal Justice Reform - Ministry of Justice

Metropolitan Police: Recruitment

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) new recruits,  (b) graduate recruits and  (c) graduate recruits with first or upper second class degrees there were to the Metropolitan police in each of the last five years.

Tony McNulty: This information is not held centrally. This is a matter for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

Metropolitan Police: Recruitment

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much the Metropolitan police spent on  (a) recruitment and  (b) other advertising in each of the last five years; and what the budget is for 2008-09.

Tony McNulty: This information is not held centrally. This is a matter for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

Disability Living Allowance: Appeals

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what the maximum time is which has elapsed between a claim being made for disability living allowance and a claimant's appeal against a refusal of such an application being upheld since the allowance was introduced;
	(2)  what percentage of appeals brought by unsuccessful claimants of disability living allowance have been upheld in each of the last five years.

Anne McGuire: holding answer 21 April 2008
	The information is not available to answer your first question.
	With regard to your second question such information as is available is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Disability living allowance appeals 
			   Percentage decided in favour of customer  Appeals to the Tribunal Service as percentage of DLA live case  load 
			 2003-04 50.8 3.2 
			 2004-05 50.0 3.2 
			 2005-06 49.4 3.0 
			 2006-07 47.1 2.7 
			 2007-08 45.3 2.4 
			  Source:  DLA Legacy systems. 
		
	
	The table shows the proportion of disability living allowance appeals that have been decided in the customer's favour by the Tribunals Service for the last five years. The numbers include customers who received an increase (including an increase from nil entitlement) in the level of, or period of entitlement to, benefit, compared to the original decision by the Disability and Carers Service.
	No information is available differentiating between appellants whose claim was initially disallowed and those whose claim led to some entitlement prior to appeal.
	To provide an indication of the incidence of appeals, the table also shows that the number of appeals submitted to the Tribunals Service, as a percentage of the total DLA live case load, has decreased over the last five years.

Members: Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  when the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 4 March 2008, on the transcript of an appeal proceeding (reference: 192972/43442);
	(2)  when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 29 February 2008, transferred from the Attorney-General, on Jewish courts;
	(3)  when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 6 March 2008, on the Electoral Reform Campaign (reference: 193307).

Bridget Prentice: My hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Garston (Maria Eagle) replied on 22 April to the hon. Member's letter of 4 March, and my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) replied on 17 April to the hon. Member's letter of 6 March. I replied on 22 April to the hon. Member's letter of 29 February. I apologise for the delay.

Prisoners: Training

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many hours a week of vocational training was provided on average to prisoners and juvenile offenders in each of the last five years, broken down by region; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Vocational training data is included within the data collated for purposeful activity and is collated at the level of prison establishment. The following tables show the average number of hours of vocational training per week in prisons which predominately hold non juvenile prisoners and prisons which predominately hold juvenile prisoners in each of the last five full financial years.
	
		
			  Average number of vocational training hours per week for prisoners in non juvenile prisons 
			  Operational area  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 East Midlands 4.4 4.8 4.3 4.3 5.5 
			 Eastern 3.0 3.1 3.3 3.6 3.8 
			 High Security 3.2 3.0 3.2 3.0 3.1 
			 Kent and Sussex 2.6 2.7 2.9 3.4 3.8 
			 London 1.4 1.7 2.0 2.3 2.0 
			 North East 3.7 3.6 3.3 2.7 2.9 
			 North West 5.2 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.6 
			 Contracted Out 5.0 4.2 4.1 4.0 4.3 
			 South Central 2.5 1.9 3.0 3.5 3.5 
			 South West 3.8 3.4 4.0 3.9 3.7 
			 Wales 2.7 2.9 3.9 3.9 4.6 
			 West Midlands 3.6 3.3 3.6 4.2 5.8 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 4.2 4.1 3.8 4.0 4.3 
		
	
	
		
			  Average number of vocational training hours per week for prisoners in juvenile prisons 
			  Operational area  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 Eastern (1) 1.6 1.2 (1) 1.0 
			 South Central 2.9 3.1 2.5 2.4 2.0 
			 West Midlands 6.4 5.9 6.3 5.8 5.5 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 3.4 3.2 2.8 4.1 3.6 
			 (1 )No data available

Probation Officers

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many probation officers left each area probation service  (a) upon retirement,  (b) upon resignation,  (c) upon transfer to another probation service and  (d) for other reasons in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Information for the full period requested is not available. Data collected before 2006 was not broken down into the categories required to answer this question and is therefore not directly comparable with the figures collected since then. The following table details the number of staff in probation officer roles leaving their posts during 2006-07 by area and their leaving destinations.
	
		
			  Leaving destinationProbation officers( 1)  financial year 2006-07( 2) 
			  Probation area  Transferred to another probation area( 3)  Other employment  No other employment  Retirement( 4)  Other( 5)  Unknown  Total 
			 Avon and Somerset 7.00 1.20 0.00 1.80 0.00 11.00 21.00 
			 Bedfordshire 2.40 0.00 3.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 7.40 
			 Cambridgeshire 1.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 6.00 
			 Cheshire 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.61 0.00 5.77 6.38 
			 Cumbria 1.00 0.20 2.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.70 
			 Derbyshire 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.50 1.00 3.00 7.50 
			 Devon and Cornwall 0.00 3.00 0.00 2.00 0.50 5.50 11.00 
			 Dorset 1.00 0.00 0.00 7.00 0.00 1.00 9.00 
			 Durham 3.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.00 
			 Dyfed Powys 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.40 0.00 2.10 4.50 
			 Essex 3.00 0.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 1.50 6.50 
			 Gloucestershire 2.00 2.00 5.00 0.00 1.00 8.00 18.00 
			 Gwent 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 9.00 
			 Hampshire 3.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 22.10 26.10 
			 Hertfordshire 6.00 3.00 1.00 7.50 0.00 2.00 19.50 
			 Humberside 0.00 3.00 0.00 3.00 2.50 3.50 12.00 
			 Kent 3.00 0.00 4.00 11.00 3.00 0.00 21.00 
			 Lancashire 0.00 10.90 3.00 1.50 4.00 3.90 23.30 
			 Leicestershire 3.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 7.00 12.00 
			 Lincolnshire 3.00 0.00 0.00 3.00 0.00 0.00 6.00 
			 London 3.80 0.00 0.00 9.30 10.80 54.79 78.69 
			 Greater Manchester 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.00 1.00 47.00 60.00 
			 Merseyside 3.00 3.00 18.00 13.00 0.00 2.00 39.00 
			 Norfolk 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.00 0.00 1.00 7.00 
			 North Yorkshire 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 
			 North Wales 1.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 9.00 10.00 
			 Northamptonshire 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.00 4.00 
			 Northumbria 6.00 0.00 2.50 0.60 0.00 5.20 14.30 
			 Nottinghamshire 3.00 0.90 0.00 1.00 1.00 4.00 9.90 
			 South Wales 4.00 3.00 0.00 9.00 4.00 1.00 21.00 
			 South Yorkshire 1.00 1.40 3.00 0.00 0.00 7.20 12.60 
			 Staffordshire 0.00 2.00 0.50 4.00 0.00 0.00 6.50 
			 Suffolk 0.00 3.00 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.00 7.00 
			 Surrey 5.00 0.00 2.70 0.00 0.00 6.00 13.70 
			 Sussex 0.00 0.00 3.00 11.00 1.00 2.00 17.00 
			 Teesside 2.40 9.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 12.40 
			 Thames Valley 5.00 1.50 3.80 4.80 1.00 1.00 17.10 
			 Warwickshire 7.40 2.00 3.00 3.00 0.00 2.40 17.80 
			 West Mercia 0.00 0.00 3.26 7.50 0.00 2.40 13.16 
			 West Midlands 6.00 4.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 5.00 27.00 
			 West Yorkshire 0.00 5.00 0.00 4.00 2.00 29.00 40.00 
			 Wiltshire 4.00 6.00 3.00 0.00 1.80 1.00 15.80 
			 (1) Includes senior practitioners, probation officers, trainee probation officers, senior probation officers and practice development assessors. (2) Figures provided are full time equivalent (FTE). (3) Does not include those transferring within the same area, as this information is not collected. (4) Includes those retiring on ill-health grounds. (5) Includes those leaving as a result of dismissal, those leaving for education/training purposes and death in service.

Alcoholic Drinks: Counselling

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were referred to alcohol counselling services in each of the last five years, broken down by  (a) region,  (b) sex and  (c) those aged (i) under 10, (ii) 10 to 18 and (iii) over 18 years.

Dawn Primarolo: Data on the number of people referred to alcohol counselling services has not been collected centrally, however, the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System has been expanded to include a formal National Alcohol Treatment Monitoring System to collect alcohol treatment data, starting from 1 April 2008.